tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post6078329043552396192..comments2024-03-07T14:43:21.888-08:00Comments on Whatever I want to write about: Are humans also genetically modified organisms?Sriram Khéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06907731254833435446noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-21207601178212565922015-08-23T11:25:14.384-07:002015-08-23T11:25:14.384-07:00Bite your tongue!! I am not an Oregonian. I live...Bite your tongue!! I am not an Oregonian. I live in Oregon. BIG difference.Anne in Salemnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-23092599204994980552015-08-23T09:25:24.464-07:002015-08-23T09:25:24.464-07:00The comments reflect the complicated views that th...The comments reflect the complicated views that the seven-plus billions hold ... An evolution-denying believer defends GMO; an uber-capitalist worries about Monsanto; an Oregonian advocates for cutting down a few trees ;) <br />My job in this rejoinder is to merely point out your respective contradictions and have you sort them out for yourselves ... hahahaha ;)<br /><br />Yes, the "food babe" was in the news recently for many of the reasons that you bring up. You left out an interesting aspect of the food babe in this context when Ramesh and I are from India: the food babe is the daughter of immigrants from India ;)<br /><br />Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-66538471372936103262015-08-22T20:28:06.478-07:002015-08-22T20:28:06.478-07:00I wouldn't be so harsh on people at large who ...I wouldn't be so harsh on people at large who are fearful of GMO. <br /><br />I believe that the GMO problem is one of communication. People in general will not believe something simply because it was asserted so by a scientist or published in an scientific journal. They need to be convinced by both rational and emotional arguments. Take the small pox example - we convinced the world at large although the concept of a vaccine is counter intuitive. BCG vaccine (against TB) was for long resisted in India - slowly and surely the government convinced the people (a great story there). The same thing can be done on GMO - in fact in some crops in India, that is indeed being done. Where the waters are being muddies is when private corporations (read big bad multinationals) try to propagate GMOs. There is an inherent anti large company feeling and therefore the instant surmise is that anything they do must be bad. At least in the Indian context, if Monsanto had not been at the forefront of the GMO debate, there would have been far less resistance. <br /><br />Intuitive distrust is not always a bad thing - its what evolution has taught us to survive.<br /><br />Having said all this, the fear mongers such as foodbabe (really ???!!!) ought to be guillotined.<br /><br />Mike - What is kohlrabi ????? !!Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-49684638925730749242015-08-22T16:26:41.384-07:002015-08-22T16:26:41.384-07:00Have you ever heard of the Food Babe (foodbabe.com...Have you ever heard of the Food Babe (foodbabe.com)? She pretends to be a scientist and writes scathing posts about toxins in foods, among other things, and rallies her followers to petition companies to change their ways that she finds unacceptable. She appeals to the emotions, not to rational thought. For example, Starbucks should change its pumpkin spice latte because the caramel syrup is a class 2B carcinogen. Scary, right? She neglects to mention that coffee is also a Class 2B carcinogen. In April, a real scientist (scibabe.com) dragged the Food Babe over the coals for her pseudo-science and scare tactics; it is by far the best dissection of the Food Babe I've seen. See this article: http://gawker.com/the-food-babe-blogger-is-full-of-shit-1694902226. It is really very funny, especially the vinegar part.<br /><br />People believe what they want to believe as long as they don't have to think. Thinking takes effort, and as you know and rue, people are loathe to do it. You could tell them that GMO rice saved millions of Asians from starvation beginning in the 1960s, and all they'll hear is GMO, which equals bad.<br /><br />How's the air in Eugene? It was smoke-filled in Portland and Salem by about 11:00 this morning. If only the tree-huggers would accept the science I have read that thinning forests and removing fuel (remnants of these fires in particular) would prevent these annual conflagrations.<br /><br />Ah, yes. Dinner. Time for some tomatoes and cabbage that were probably engineered at some point, whether in a lab or in a field.Anne in Salemnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-64081710045211519152015-08-22T15:31:32.007-07:002015-08-22T15:31:32.007-07:00I often remind people who oppose GMOs that what th...I often remind people who oppose GMOs that what they really oppose is the fact that somebody in a sterile, controlled laboratory is doing it. They're obviously fine with farmers from a time when the cure for disease was bleeding until you got better!<br />In reality, if you want to avoid all GMOs, you can't eat tomato, carrot, corn, wheat, cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, yaks, dogs, cats, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli or kohlrabi. There are others in there as well, but I think that list gets the point across.<br /><br />From, one of those nuts who argues that evolution is not truth.Mike Hothnoreply@blogger.com